The present invention relates generally to the field of radio communications. More specifically, the present invention relates to an over-the-air programming method for a wireless communication device.
When wireless communication devices, such as wireless radiotelephones or cellular phones, are manufactured and sold to a customer such as a network operator or a service provider, the devices are generally programmed in two phases. More specifically, when a group of the same series of the devices is manufactured, in the first phase, the devices are programmed with base software comprising features and data that are common among all the devices in the group. The second phase of programming, referred here as a flex file, may comprise a set of customer or regional specific requirements, new features, security and distribution provisions. An example of the customer specific requirements is a series of the same phones distributed to two carriers. Two carriers, Carrier A and Carrier B, decide to purchase the same series wireless phones from one manufacturer. To a user, there may be very few differences externally between cellular phones from Carrier A and from Carrier B. In order to distinguish its phone from other phones supported by other carriers, Carrier A may wish to display its own company symbol as the user turns on the phone. Carrier B may also wish to distinguish its phone from other carriers"" phones but may wish to display its name at the top of the screen.
An example of the region specific requirements is a frequency band assignment based upon the available band in a given area of the world. A manufacturer may produce a cellular phone capable of functioning in different parts of the world using global-system for mobile (GSM) protocol comprising 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 1900 MHz. In the United States, only the 1900 MHz band is available for the GSM, while in Europe, both the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands are available but not the 1900 MHz band. Therefore, by knowing in which region the phones will be operated, the manufacturer is able to program the phones for only what is needed, and possibly reducing the programming time and reducing the required memory size for the phones.
For a series of phones that have been in production for some time, new features, which have been unavailable for the earlier phones, may be programmed into the newer phones.
Currently, the programming the phones requires an electrical connection to each phone, therefore if the phones need to be re-programmed, it would require connecting to each phone, which is labor intensive. For a group of users desiring to have new features, which are available to the same but newer phones, each user would be required to bring his phone back to a service center or to a distributor capable of such updating, or may be required purchase new phones in order to enjoy the benefit of the new features.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for programming software, data and features into wireless communication devices individually, or as a group, without requiring physical electrical connection to each device.